Pitching, defense make No. 1 Falcons a favorite American Legion Zone 1 tourney opens today

BANGOR – As was the case a year ago, the Brewer Falcons enter the American Legion Zone 1 baseball tournament today riding a dominant regular-season effort.

Coach Dave Morris’ club finished 21-1 for the second straight summer, its record six games better than its closest rival in the 10-team zone.

While the regular-season similarity is pleasing to the Falcons, they hope their post-season fortunes are different than a year ago, when they were ousted in the zone tournament.

“We’ve talked about [last year], but we’re not going to change a thing,” said Morris, whose South Division champions face Calais (11-11) at noon in the first game of an opening-round tripleheader.

“We’ve got great character on this team, character beyond the game of baseball. These kids exemplify the commitment it takes to play Legion baseball.”

Brewer also boasts the motivation stemming from last year’s playoff frustration and the experience of a veteran team that features Zone 1 Player of the Year Jason Harvey (.475, 5 home runs, 30 RBIs) and seven teammates who earned either first- or second-team All-Zone 1 status.

“I think Brewer is a better team this year than last year,” said Trenton coach Charlie Farley. “Their pitching is better and defensively their team is better.

“They’re also probably coming into the tournament this year more focused than they were last year.”

But while Brewer may be the favorite, nothing is certain in post-season play – as last year proved.

“Brewer is definitely the team everyone is going out to get,” said Penquis coach Rob St. Louis. “But it should be a great tournament, anybody could win.”

Penquis, which earned its first trip to the state tournament at Brewer’s expense last summer, carries a 12-10 record into its 8 p.m. matchup against Trenton, which at 15-7 had the zone’s second-best record but went without representation on the All-Zone 1 first team.

At 4 p.m. North Division champion Bangor (14-8) faces Lincoln (13-9). Bangor, which advanced to the 2002 state tourney and has won 10 of its last 12 games this year, is led by Zone 1 Pitcher of the Year Josh Young (5-2, 0.95 earned run average). Lincoln, which is making its second straight post-season appearance, has an ace of its own in All-Zone 1 first-team choice Jeremy Ham (4-0, 1.14 ERA).

Young and Ham represent two of the best in a deep Zone 1 pitching pool this summer, with 17 shutouts thrown among the 110 games scheduled this summer.

“I think the pitching probably has been the best this summer that we’ve had in a long time,” said Farley. “There are a lot of good pitchers.”

But there’s a different dynamic to the zone and state tournaments that particularly affects the pitching staffs. All the games are nine innings long, unlike the regular season when all but six single games played on Sundays were seven innings.

“The game definitely changes when you go from seven to nine innings with no re-entry,” said Morris. “Like most games these probably will come down to pitching and defense and timely hitting.”

The double-elimination tournament continues through Sunday, with the Zone 1 champion and runner-up both advancing to the state tournament that begins Aug. 2 in Augusta.